26
Tending Your Garden
Thinning
•
When plants are about 1” tall,
check each
Seed Pod
for multiple
plants. Using scissors gently snip
the smallest plants at the base of
the stem, leaving ONE healthy
plant in each
Seed Pod
.
•
Thinning seedlings ensures that
the remaining plant in each
Seed
Pod
will have room to grow, get
enough nutrients and water, and
produce many, many fruits.
Be sure to cut, not pull, the extra
seedlings to avoid damaging the
roots of the strongest plant in
each
Seed Pod
.
!
We recommended earlier in this Guide that you plant multiple
seeds in each Seed Pod. This practice usually does not cause a
crowding problem for plants because typically the seeds that are
first to germinate will out-compete the later germinating seeds.
This is particularly true with herbs, lettuces, and plants that grow
in bunches (such as chives). However, with broad-stemmed
varieties, such as fruiting plants, it is best to thin the plants as
described below.
